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by wolfdancer333



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Heartache, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 08:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14516655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfdancer333/pseuds/wolfdancer333
Summary: All he ever wanted was to be free of the collar around his neck called Agreste but when Adrien gets his wish, why does it hurt so much?





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [duskblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskblue/gifts).



> Really, I have no excuses for this piece. It was all duskblue's fault! She did it!

“No!”

Cold, steel-blue eyes gazed at Adrien’s outburst, a frown marring his features. Gabriel turned from his son and Adrien’s fists clenched on his father’s desk, panting at the exertion of his shout. The chair he had docilely been sitting in had been thrown behind him the moment he had jumped to his feet. He stared at his father’s cream jacket and red dress pants, opening and closing his mouth, trying to find the words to say.

But ‘no’ was the only word he needed to say. No, he was not leaving the college he was attending. No, he was not moving out of his small, cramped flat in his apartment complex. No, he was not going to _move out of Paris_. 

“This is because of those….. _Friends_ of yours, isn’t it?”

It was a question but Adrien knew he didn’t need to answer it. He leaned over Gabriel’s desk, looking at the grooves in the wood, and tried to gather his thoughts. 

“I don’t want to leave them, that’s true. But I have a job here! And college!” Adrien flung his arms out, his eyes crinkling in desperation.

Gabriel turned his head back and Adrien’s breath hitched at the disappointment swirling into the eyes of the man he could never please. “All those will be rearranged. You will be moving to London in the next 3 weeks. I suggest you say goodbye to your friends.”

Adrien watched that silver head turn around, hands clasped behind his back, rigid posture and cold demeanor. He talked as if Adrien wasn’t his child, his son, and as if Adrien was still a teenager. But he wasn’t. 

The 21-year old model had become a man. He was still unusually tall and lean, muscles hidden in his small frame. His golden hair, forced to be tamed in high school, fell into a wild, free look. A look that his alter ego, Cat Noir, had always worn. It was kept the same length, only a bit longer, and a bit more loose. His green eyes seemed to glow, this time in building anger. 

He felt his patience snap and his pupils, despite his best intentions, he knew were narrowed slits. He was glad Gabriel wasn’t facing him or his secret was in jeopardy. His deep, growl reverberated through Gabriel’s office. “You can’t tell me what to do any more. I’m 21. I can make my own choices.” He rose to his full height, no longer leaning on the desk, but his shoulders were still hunched tight as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans. “And I choose to stay.”

Gabriel let out a deep, suffering sigh. “Very well. Then I shall take possession of all your current accounts, including cancelling your job at the company. If you choose to stay, you are no longer an Agreste. You are no longer my son.”

Adrien’s shoulders dropped, mouth parting in shock. He tried not to let it hurt but his heart ached anyway, deep and painful, as the words he had always wanted to hear registered. He was no longer an Agreste. Why did that hurt so damn much? He felt the warm sting of tears and swallowed the thick, painful lump in his throat as he asked, voice hoarse, “What?”

Gabriel turned and Adrien froze at the stone cold look his father gave him. There was no amount of lies in the world that could cover up the pure hateful, disappointed anger in those gray-blue eyes. “You shall not step foot in this mansion again. Goodbye, Adrien.”

And he turned, browsing the books before him in his bookshelves like he hadn’t just disowned his son and left his heart bleeding at his feet. 

Adrien couldn’t stop the moisture from building in the corner of his eyes and his heart was sliced open, bleeding, and every beat was more painful than the last. Why didn’t this feel good? Why did this _hurt_? He should be happy. He wasn’t an Agreste, he could be Cat Noir much more freely, he didn’t have to be the best all the time, and he didn’t need his father’s love or approval…..But he _wanted_ it. He wanted Gabriel Agreste’s love but Adrien, standing in that office with his heart aching, finally realized it was the one thing he would never have. 

He pulled a hand from one of his pockets to swipe across his eyes before he shouted, the pain and hurt in his voice making it gruff and waver. “All I ever wanted was your,” Adrien gestured but didn’t know what he was gesturing for so instead, he slammed both his palms on his father’s desk. “Whatever you were willing to give me! Your love, approval! Something! But I was never good enough….Not for you.” 

Adrien shoved off the desk, grabbing his black jacket from Natalie’s fingers, her head tilted to the ground. She wouldn’t look at him either, her eyes focused on the carpet of the office, and his heart hurt a little more. He grit his teeth and turned back as he hastily shoved his arms into the expensive jacket, shouting, the tears now visible in the corner of his eyes. “I was never enough! And you know what? I know why she left. I know why Mom left.”

He heard Natalie’s sharp intake of breath and he knew she was going to try and stop him but he shoved away from her, heading to his father’s stiff, non-moving form. He clenched his fists by his side and yelled, eyes narrowed and snarling, “Because you can never love anyone! No one is ever _good enough_ for you! I’m not, Natalie isn’t. Mom wasn’t good enough for you either, was she? You couldn’t even be bothered to love your wife! She left you because you have no fucking heart!”

Adrien never saw the fist coming. Gabriel lashed out, emotionless, not a speck of remorse or regret or even hesitation, when he swung his fist at Adrien’s jaw. It connected and Adrien grimaced, stumbling back a step but righting himself before he could fall. He raised a trembling hand to his jaw, hissing at the tender spot, his stunned eyes rising to meet Gabriel’s. Natalie’s gasp assured him he wasn’t dreaming. Gabriel stared down at him, those dark orbs nothing but a cold, emotionless emptiness. 

Adrien’s jaw was growing stiff and he could feel the pain arcing through the impact but nothing compared to icy claws digging into his chest. He turned his aching face to meet his father-no, meet Gabriel’s stone stare head-on. He narrowed his eyes, body trembling with hurt and rage and all he wanted to do was scream…! Instead, his narrowed eyes hardened and he told Gabriel Agreste softly, “Fuck. You.”

He spun around harshly, feet thudding on the carpet as he neared the office door. Natalie had her hands over her mouth, her aqua eyes wide behind her glasses. But she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at Gabriel. Shocked. Still….Her gaze didn’t waver to him when he opened the door and when he shut it behind him, Adrien started to run. He ran down the stairs, his tall, lean body taking the steps quickly and he found himself on the landing of the foyer, the dark painting of the day his mother left looming over him. He couldn’t bear to look at it. 

He turned and slammed the doors of the foyer open, darting into the dark afternoon of a raining storming Paris. The rain poured down in hard, thick sheets, making a drumming ‘phut’ sound as they repeatedly hit the ground. It was like hearing 3 basketballs hit the ground all at once, echoing throughout the city. It was bleak and dark and Adrien was for once thankful the weather matched his mood. He slammed into the black gates of the Agreste mansion, a house cat trapped behind bars, and the feline inside of him bristled. He felt panic claw at him, the need to run, to get away, to be up high –

He needed to climb. Breathing deeply, his panic escalating as his chest grew tight, Adrien closed his eyes and tried to focus on Plagg’s shouts from inside his jacket’s pocket. Everything was a warbled mess of sound and all he could really make out was the thumping and drum of the falling rain. It soaked through his clothes, chilling his skin in cold drops. It soaked his skin, flowing into his bones and he was desperate to feel it drown the hurt in his chest. 

He yelped at the pressure on cheeks, eyes snapping open to look into the glowing slit eyes of his kwami. Plagg was floating, paws on Adrien’s cheeks, his expression a mix of loathing and, dominantly, concern. 

Plagg was floating. In the rain. Plagg hated the rain, literally complained about it 24/7. Yet, there he was. His thin fur was soaked, tail drooping from the pressure of the falling water. His ears were turned downwards in disdain, whiskers twitching when a drop would hit them. He was small and shivering from the cold but still, he kept his eyes on Adrien, green slits worried. 

His heart fell at the soaked kwami and Adrien felt a cold numb seep into his body that had nothing to do with the rain. He whispered, “I’m sorry, Plagg. I’m just….One big mess up.”

Plagg narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth but before he could retort, Adrien closed his eyes and mumbled, “Claws Out.”

He could hear – and feel if the displeasure coating him with the suit was anything to go by – Plagg’s indignant shouts as he was pulled into the silver ring on Adrien’s finger. The ring turned black and Adrien closed his eyes, letting the suit fall over his body and not bothering or caring to try to smooth the suit over himself. As soon as the last of the magick coursed through him, strong and steady, Adrien crouched low, clawed hands pressing into the wet stone of the Agreste courtyard. He pressed his body downwards, hesitating only a moment.

Glowing slit eyes looked back one last time, remembering a blonde haired woman whose smile could have melted the Sun, and mumbled, “Goodbye, Mom.”

He leapt into the air, the force of pushing himself off the ground creating a small shockwave on the ground. His body was light and weightless, like the cat’s he resembled, and his form was high above Paris in seconds. He looked down at the city as he hovered in the rain, the drops pelting him harder, before gravity would pull him down. Time froze as he looked out at the rainy city, dim lights brightening the darkness of the sky and the thickly falling rain. 

The city was covered in a gleaming, wet sheen and his slit eyes could see for miles, far into the distance, of the empty and deserted Paris. Not a single soul dared to tread through the icy fingers of the rain. It suited him just fine. As he began his drop, he grabbed the baton at his lower back and shot the bottom end at the slick ground. It thunked and splished into a puddle but shot him over the Agreste fence and towards the rooftops on the opposite side. 

As he fell, he sheathed his baton at his back once more and landed on the roof with his front paws before he shot off. He ran on all fours, his claws hitting the tiles and shingles of the Paris rooftops. Leaping and twisting, running and darting, Cat Noir made his way through the rain, through the drenched city and toward the tallest structure he knew. As he approached the Eiffel Tower, bounding off the side of one building and landing on all fours at the top of the next, he was faced with the large metal building. Dim, small lights flickered behind the thickly falling rain and Cat’s ears fell back to his head. His chest was heaving and he was soaked, freezing, but he didn’t stop. The ache in his heart forced a cry from him as he ran for the tower, claws scittering over the metal as he darted upwards. 

He shot up, his front hands and his back legs all pushing him further and further up the Tower, his body twisting through the metal. His body was beginning to tense but he pushed through it anyway. Nothing was stopping him from reaching the top of that Tower. He needed to be there, his instincts demanded he do it. When he reached the enclosed space of the office, he pushed upward, climbing and darting up to the very tip of the Tower. Crouched on all fours, precariously at the very top of the Eiffel Tower, Cat finally stopped.

And his heart completely broke. 

He ducked his head, eyes closed, and felt his claws dig into the metal with a screech. His tall, lean frame shuddered, each tremble of his body only furthering the tight, burning ache in his chest. His eyebrows creased as burning hot tears built up in his eyes and he felt his belted, metal tipped tail drop to curl around his perch. His ears sunk lower until the sounds around him distorted and all he could hear was his heartbeat. 

The rain drummed against his body, icily clawing at his numb skin. He couldn’t even feel the cold any more but he could feel the pain in his chest, the hurt, of Gabriel’s words. He was no longer an Agreste. He wasn’t Adrien Agreste now he was just….Adrien. Just Cat Noir, a stray alley cat, that no one wanted. He had always thought that his Mother would return, always held hope that she would come back and everything would be okay. As the months had dragged on and Gabriel had only grown colder and colder, Adrien knew she wouldn’t return. 

And still, he hoped. He wanted her to come back…..But she never did. Not even for him. She left him with the man she couldn’t love, knowing Gabriel could never love his son either. Adrien had always known there was something wrong with his parents but he had been too stupid to realize, too caught up in his mother’s happy smile and her loving arms. He could almost feel their warmth…..

Eyes snapping open, he bristled, back arching slightly and eyes slitted at the gentle touch of arms gently wrapping around him from behind. From deep within his stomach, a low, rumbling growl started and he bared his teeth, mind completely ridden with pain and instinct. 

“Oh, minou…..” Her voice was soft and drowned out by the rain and his mind was lost to the animal inside of him, walls building up to disguise his pain.

His growling intensified and his tail twitched, curt and quick, but the presence remained. She retracted her arms and he stiffened, body taut, rigid, and a moment later a red clad hand with black dots appeared in his vision. His slit eyes snapped to it instantly, focused, his tail twitching quicker and from side to side, angrily. She held her hand there, let him see it, before she reached forward, towards his face and it was all too much for Cat. 

He hissed, backed arched, and snapped at her. She recoiled her hand quickly with a gasp and something that recognized her inside Adrien broke but his shattered mind couldn’t comprehend what that was. 

“Minou…..Hey, shhhh, I’m here.” The gentle hum of her voice shot straight through him and into his heart, his pain and hurt flooding him like a waterfall. He remained still, bristled, but the woman was not deterred. “Mon minou, I’m here, I will always be here. It’s okay now. It’s okay.”

His ears loosened slightly and slowly, his careful hold on his perch shifted. He twisted lithely, quickly, his head lifting to stare into bluebells. He tensed. Her recoiled hand was held over her chest, red spandex suit tight against her body, and a small, primal form of him wanted to bury his nose in her hair and hold her to him. His slit eyes narrowed as he examined her. Her eyes were filled with worry and sadness but out of all the emotions twisting in those blue depths, it was the pain, pain for _him_ , that caused recognition to dawn on him.

His pupils slowly widened slightly, thicker slits in the glowing green of his eyes, and he whispered, voice a rumbling growl, “Mari?”

The tender, sweet smile on her lips caused his hear to stutter and Adrien fought back the cat side of him that wanted to kiss her, his eyes falling to her feet. But Marinette – how he had not seen it before that she had been Ladybug when they were teens made him feel stupid – was not going to let him sink into himself again. Her hand shot out to his jaw, tilting his face up to hers. Her eyes were glassy and he winced. Great, he hurt her, too. 

He turned his head to the side, looking out over Paris, when he heard her gasp. He didn’t turn, knowing if he looked, he wouldn’t be able to resist her. When her gentle, shaking fingertips grazed the bruise he was sure marred him, he grimaced and let out a pained hiss. His slit eyes narrowed slightly again and he fought back his instincts that screamed at him to swipe at her and run. 

His heart beat numbly in his chest, the emotions draining out of him with the rain, and he almost felt like he would disappear if he stayed there long enough. But he made the mistake of meeting her gaze. Her bluebell orbs grounded him and his heart sparked, sputtering inside his chest, at the way her gazed bored into him. His shoulders tensed when her other hand reached up, both her hands cupping his jaw gently, mindful of his bruise. 

She pulled his face closer, slow and gentle and so Marinette that his eyes softened. She leaned her forehead against his, closing those beautiful eyes and a strangled sort of whimper erupted from his throat. His ears flushed at the smile stretching her lips before he slammed his eyes shut to avoid looking at her. Timidly, she ran both hands from his jaw up to his human ears where she ran a finger along the lobe, causing him to shudder and a hot warmth to build beneath his skin, despite the cold rain and his numb body, at her touch. 

God, her fingers could burn him alive, her touch could engulf him in a sea of fire. Her fingers threaded gently into his hair, carding through the golden locks with a slow gentleness that caused a deep vibrating rumble in his chest. Both her hands ran through his hair, gentle, but he tensed the moment he felt her hands tremble against his scalp. Instantly, guilt eat at him and his eyes opened slowly to catch a glimpse of her without her knowing. 

Of course she was cold, it was freezing and the rain was icy. His throat grew thick with emotion and he smiled softly. She was Marinette, his Bug, and of course she wouldn’t dare abandon him. The only person in the world who gave a damn about him was right here, in the pouring rain, and he felt such a deep burning affection for her that he couldn’t stop his head from rubbing into her cheek, his purr rumbling louder, thicker. Her quiet giggle spurred him on and he let out a small chittery meow that had Ladybug throwing her had back and laughing, her arms winding from his hair to hang around his neck in a loose hold. 

He paused, his head butted against her cheek and tail swishing behind him. Her loosely clasped hands at his neck played with the blonde hair at the base of his neck, his heart swelling with warmth, the numb cold thawing at Marinette’s touch. 

The next shiver that trembled her frame had his arms curling around her instantly, pulling her into him and he could feel that his perch wasn’t big enough to hold them both so he mumbled through his purr into her shoulder, “Your apartment or mine?”

Her hands tightened against his neck as she leaned her head into his shoulder, nuzzling there a moment, before she whispered, “Mine.”

Scooping his Princess into his arms, she let out a loud, squabbling squeak. She grappled to tighten her hold and shot him a half-hearted glare but he only grinned as he stood to his feet atop the highest point of the Eiffel Tower. When he stood, the air pressure dropped and through the dark gray clouds, they could both see the white lightning brewing within. The rain was falling in harder sheets off in the distant streets of Paris and both superheroes knew the storm would be a pretty bad one. Which meant their jobs got a bit harder. 

He looked down at her in his arms, her raven hair soaked and shinning a deep black-blue. Her suit clung to her and he could feel her pressing her body into him for warmth and comfort, her arms around his neck loose, comfortable in his hold on her. The trust they held for one another blinded him momentarily but not more than when her eyes flicked up to meet his from beneath rain drenched eyelashes. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hold her and never let go. There were so many things he wanted in that moment. He only smirked and crouched low, feeling her tense in anticipation in his arms.

When he leapt into the air, Ladybug shrieked gleefully and Cat grinned. She loved when he would fling them into the air but usually she demanded a piggy back ride. As evening blended into night, this time, she was in his arms and if he were being honest, he loved it this way more. He got to see her eyes light up, the blue dancing as they begun their fall off the Tower. The wet, cold wind stung their bodies as they fell, the rain drumming against them. Ladybug’s arms tightened around his neck and he leaned his head closer to her, a purr rumbling in his throat against his will. One of the hands draped over his shoulders gave his shoulder a gentle pat and he snorted.

“I’m not a pet, Princess. I’m a wild animal.”

He looked down in time to see her roll her eyes. “The only thing wild about you are your insane puns.”

Grinning, he threw his body backwards toward the metal Tower and Ladybug buried her face in his chest, his heart pounding at the contact. He threw his feet backwards, slamming them against the Tower and stopping their descent. He pressed his legs back, feeling his calves aching from the pressure, before he shot forward. Ladybug gripped him, laughing into his ear, and he felt his heart soar at her happiness. 

He landed at the bottom of the Tower with a thud, knees bent only slightly, before he began to whistle and stroll through the Champ de Mars at the base of the Tower. At his nonchalant strolling and whistling, Ladybug’s laughter intensified until she had her head thrown back against the arm carrying her, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. Cat’s heart lifted at the sight. That. That right there is what he lived for, what he protected their city with. Her happiness, her laughter, _her_. 

As he slowed his pace, calmly walking them through the garden, Ladybug’s laughter died down and she nuzzled her head back against his shoulder. He looked at all the soaked foliage, the tress and shrubs of the Champ de Mars, before his mind processed a fact he had neglected until that moment: not that she didn’t save him from his own despair but….How the hell had she known where to find him? He glanced down at her to see her gazing around them with half-lidded blue eyes, peaceful, and he vowed to ask her later. 

When he came to the circular dirt path with the crystal blue pond in the middle, he veered to the left, heading back into Paris’ city streets. He looked up at the building he came to and hesitated, knowing in order to use his baton, he would have to let go of Ladybug and, to be honest, he wasn’t letting go just yet. His tail lashed behind him as his eyebrows creased in concentration but Ladybug was never one to disappoint. He yelped when she practically flung herself over one of his shoulders and he froze, a dark red blush on his cheeks, when he realized she was climbing onto his back.

The scent of her filled his nose: sweet and pure and warm, a smell that was completely Marinette and Ladybug at the same time. He closed his eyes, counted to ten, and told himself he was NOT a teenage boy any more. He could handle this. When she was safely situated on his back, arms wrapped around his neck and her toned legs squeezing around his middle, she passed him his baton and he shot them onto the roof. Her chin was nestled onto his shoulder, her breath blowing against his ear and he groaned inwardly. The animalistic side of him preened.

He ducked to the ground, clawed hands falling to the wet stone of Paris’ streets. He felt Ladybug tighten her hold on him, her breath hitched, and then he vaulted up the wall. His claws dug into the multi-faceted architecture of the apartment he climbed and both he and Ladybug froze, heads peeking through the lit-up window at the surprised, blinking eyes of a mother and her two sons and little daughter. Already knowing what his lady wanted, Cat slid to the windowsills edge, his head peeking in at the little family. He winked and absolute hell exploded inside. 

The mother shrieked, laughing, as her two boys dragged her to the window, bouncing and begging for her to open it and let them see Paris’ heroes. She lifted the edge gently, peeking out at the two heroes with tired eyes, asking them, “M Cat Noir, Mlle Ladybug. Would you…..Allow my children to say hello?”

Cat had a brilliant retort on his lips when his lady beat him to the punch, her voice gentle as the arms around his neck gave him a small squeeze, jingling the bell at his neck. “Oui. We have some spare time.”

The mother’s shoulders dropped, raising a hand to her heart in gratefulness, and just a bit of the tired wrinkles around her eyes loosened. She moved to the side and Cat found his face full of two small, grinning boys both firing questions and compliments at him and Ladybug. His smile became strained when Ladybug leaned over him – was she aware how form-fitting her suit was!? - to give the two boys large, tight hugs. But Cat’s slit eyes fell to the only girl. She was smaller than the boys, younger, and resembled her mother with her curly brown hair and light mocha coloured eyes. They were fixated on him, awed, and he gave her a gentle smile.

Tilting his head forward and to the side, he twitched one ear first to the left and her eyes lit up, following the motion. Then, he twitched his other ear to the right so his ears were facing different directions, making him look quite silly. The corners of her mouth twitched. What really did it was when he widened his glowing eyes, the slit dilating to almost completely cover the green in his orbs. She squealed and ran for him, throwing her arms around his neck and he chuckled, tilting his head against her and using his chin to hold her in a small hug. 

Chatter ceased above him but he ignored the attention for the little girl around his neck. “Hello, Purr-incess.”

The purr in his words made the little girl bounce while she hugged him and he laughed into her brown hair, butting his nose against her cheek to encourage her quiet giggles she was smothering in his neck. When she let go, her eyes were bright and the shy, timid little girl was gone. In her place sat a bouncing, shining girl who had hugged her hero and damn if thatt didn’t strike him in his heart like the lightning thundering overhead. It was true he fought for Ladybug – he would die for her, no questions asked – but it was also true he fought for Paris. He fought for this little brown haired girl’s smile and the light in her mother’s tired eyes.

He fought for the happiness, the glow of Paris’ families. A glow he never wanted anyone else to feel the loss of. He was well aware he couldn’t fix everything, and some things weren’t in his power or his business to fix, but when the little girl turned to her brothers, pointed at him, and proudly declared, her little chest puffed up, “Cat Noir is my favourite!”

He thought that maybe, just maybe, being Cat Noir he could feel that glow again. Ladybug, always good at sensing what he needed when he needed it, gave the kids a wave and leaned up – he was going to talk with her about that he decided as his human ears flushed – to kiss the mother’s cheeks. “Get some rest, Mlle Maman. You deserve it.”

Cat lifted one clawed hand off the window to give a two finger salute, causing the children inside to practically die of excitement, while Ladybug hollered off a goodbye and then he was vaulting to the roof. His lithe form paused at the top, crouched, and the two listened to the happy laughter and chatter of the family below before Ladybug’s grin touched his ear, sending his heart flopping in his chest like a fish. “That was a sweet thing you did, Chaton. I’ll give you some good pets when we get to my apartment. Maybe a treat or two.”

He snorted, rising to two legs and dashing over the roof, pawed feet making no noise despite the rain on the roof and carrying his partner on his back. “I’m not your pet, M’Lady.” The hands hanging loosely over his neck now smacked his bell and he used the metal tip of his tail while he ran to tickle her ribs. “But if you take home a stray like this, I may not want to leave.”

She hummed, the sound vibrating in his ear as he leaped over a chimney, lightning lighting up the now almost black sky as the rain began to pelt them harder. He winced at the sting it left behind and picked up his speed, darting quicker over the rooftops as her voice responded quietly a moment later, “If it’s you, Chaton, my door will always be open.”

He could practically feel her embarrassment when she tensed slightly and mumbled out a second later, “Maybe I’ll just put in a cat door.”

He couldn’t help the bark of laughter and felt Ladybug bury her head in his shoulder, arms tightening as her cheeks flushed in warmth. He couldn’t resist teasing her as he bent at his waist and pounced through the air onto the large roof of an apartment complex, “M’Lady, that sounds paw-sitively purr-fect as long as you don’t me clawing at your door when you shut me out.”

He felt her grumble into his cold neck and he snickered, looking around the roof of the apartment complex as her words filtered through the harsh storm building. “I will declaw you.”

Half-smirking he slowly made his way over the apartment roof, the rain making the silver of his pawed feet glint. He approached one side and looked down, head butting Ladybug’s as he told her, “We’re here. Your balcony can’t handle us both,” A flirtatious wink from him and a groan from her. “So I’ll slide you down my stick as you love to call it so you can let us in.”

Her bubbling laughter was music to his ears, brightening his mood, but he wasn’t sure why she was laughing. Her legs loosened and then the front of her slid down his back and for fuck’s sake, okay, he wasn’t a teenager but he was still a man here and she was making it very difficult to remain on the best friends without benefits line. He tensed, breathing out deeply and slowly, to erase the feel of her wet suit against his back, body slick against his own. 

And then it hit him what he said just as a red clad finger tipped his bell gently, her eyes shining. Her back was to him, head slightly tilted back to give him an amused, sultry look. Her other hand was on her hip as she whispered back to him, batting her eyelashes, “I thought you liked to be in control, minou?”

She dropped the bell, and his heart, and jumped to her balcony with a tinkling laugh that left him breathless and wide-eyed. His heart pounded somewhere on the rain soaked roof at his feet and he swallowed past the thick lump in his throat. She was going to be the death of him one of these days. Picking up his pride and his beating heart off the ground, Cat strode forward and leaped for the edge of Ladybug’s balcony. He perched and looked at the half open window, her pink curtains blowing in the cold wind. 

Well, an open window counted as a cat door, right? He slid off the lip of the small balcony and crawled on all fours through the open window. He passed through into Marinette’s bedroom and he smiled, affection lighting up his eyes, at the way the room screamed that it belonged to his partner in heroics and best friend, in both of his forms. He had been here plenty of times before so everything was already as familiar to him as his own apartment which was right down the hall from hers. Go figure. 

His ears twitched at the sound of running water coming from her small bathroom and he flushed, shoulders up to his ears nervously as he stood to his feet. He hoped his voice didn’t sound tense when he called out to her, “I’ll be in the living room scratching up your furniture!”

There was a muffled giggle and a small thud before she hollered out, tone laced in amusement, “You better not! I really will declaw you!” Then, softer, “You’re welcome to wait in my bedroom. There’s a towel on the bed and some clothes.”

He blinked in surprise and glanced at her bed, eyes softening at the fact there was indeed a towel and a pair of clothes sitting there. He stalked towards her bed and looked over the duvet cover with a muffled chuckle. Red with black dots with a thin, red sheet and a black fitted sheet over the mattress. How _fitting_. He reached for the towel, careful of his claws to not prick the duvet, and threw it over his head to towel off his ears and hair. 

Carefully, he pressed the towel against his leather ears and gently dried them off before he scrubbed a little more roughly at his soaked hair. Draping the towel around his neck, he immediately shook his head, his ears twitching furiously from the rain and the towel drying. His hair fluffed up, wild and scruffy. A low, gentle purr rumbled in his stomach as his hands moved to rub the towel against his neck, ducking his head down gently. He watched the rain drip onto Marinette’s pink and white rug with a wince. 

He would fix that later. As he moved the towel over his body, drying off his shoulders and patting down his chest, without her presence the cold empty lost feeling began clawing it’s way back in. Sure, Ladybug had brightened his mood, she always did, but…..For all their bantering, he really was a stray now. A wild, untamed beast with the power to destroy; even his own mother and father hadn’t wanted him. The towel fell to the floor behind him as his hands slowly fell to his sides, claws digging into the suit covering his palms. He stared at Marinette’s floor, his back tensing and his shoulders tightening. 

He was destruction and bad luck and disaster…..His ears flicked at the sound of Marinette’s humming in the bathroom and his stomach bottomed out, his blood running cold. What if he ended up destroying her along with him? His tail fell to Marinette’s floor, the metal tip tapping against the wood as the belted tail sunk to the ground. His blood pumped through him, steady and slow, his eyes narrowing into tiny slits as he tried to control his thoughts.

He grit his teeth, his jaw throbbing in pain from the bruise he was sure marred his face. He felt his ears gently flick backwards, not completely flat against his head. His stomach tightened and his body went numb as he tried to remember that he was here, in Marinette’s room, his lady humming gently from inside the bathroom. He looked toward the crack in the door and a part of him, a deep, dark part, wondered if she left it cracked on purpose to lure him in. He shook his head, a dark growl rumbling through his body. 

No, Marinette wasn’t like that. She left the door cracked because she _trusted_ him. His claws dug deeper into his suit and he swung his head towards the open window when a loud, booming roll of thunder shook the window panes. A flash of lightning followed immediately, the black sky looming above and the intense drumming of the rain pounding against the city. He stalked slowly towards the open window that stretched from the top of the ceiling to the floor and looked out, his cat-like eye sight and his ability to see in the dark, gracing him with the dimly lit Eiffel Tower in the distance.

He could run back there. His soaked, cold body shivered at the thought but his thoughts swirled through him, insistent and demanding. Marinette deserved more than a man like him, a destructive animal with primal instincts, that didn’t have anything to offer her. And damn it if she didn’t deserve the world on a silver platter. Yet, he knew, without a doubt, if he went back to that Tower, she would drag herself out after him. He swallowed thickly at the thought of the beautiful woman she had become, his best friend and the woman he had loved since they were teens. Both sides of her were as equally important to him and he couldn’t imagine Marinette without Ladybug; she was both sides of herself.

And he loved all of her. Over the years, and when their identities had come out after an argument at his apartment and an akuma attack, he found that was the day he started to fall harder, deeper, in love with her. To find the hero he loved as her partner and the girl he had been crushing on since they were awkward teens was practically a stroke of good luck, his only good luck, and after their identities had been revealed, well, they had carried on as if nothing changed. 

He shut the window softly when a burst of wind threw her curtains in his face, the rain plastering his hair once again. When the window was shut and locked – safety first, Princess – he made his way blankly towards her bed. Slowly, he fell to his haunches, his back to her bed and his slit eyes staring at the pink of her wall. Letting his back fall against the bed, suit still soaked with rain, he stretched his legs out before him. His tail curled up next to his legs, his head ducked and staring at the clawed hands digging gently into the rug at the foot of her bed.

Not an Agreste. He wasn’t Adrien Agreste and Cat Noir was a stray so….Who was he? 

“You didn’t change, minou. You’ll catch a cold like that you silly cat.”

He didn’t move, his eyes half-mast, narrowed slits focused on nothing. His chest was tight and when the sound of her voice flowed into his ears, they fell against his head. He didn’t need to say anything but he never did. Marinette always just _knew_. He heard the flurry of her feet on her floor, a curse as she stumbled into her bed which did make him chuckle, before he felt the bed dip behind her. He heard her shuffling behind him and then, quietly, “Come here, Chaton.”

He looked at his shiny, wet suit and his shoulders drooped in exhaustion. He was just so tired, so lost, and all he could think about was how he wanted to get away from Marinette before she became another casualty in his life. Before she walked away from him, too, and if she left him, his heart would never recover. 

He settled with, “I’m all wet.”

He heard her sigh in exasperation and when he didn’t hear anything else or feel the bed shift with her body, he figured maybe she –

No, nope, he was wrong. A second later, she shrieked and tackled him from behind. He yelped, surprised, before her arms wrapped tightly around his chest, under his arms, and he would be fucking damned if his small, lean Marinette didn’t just flip him upwards and onto the bed. His head landed with a cry of surprise into her lap, his chest and half of his waist fell between her legs, on his back. His legs were a bit too long and they hung off the edge of her small bed, her feet hooking into his hips to hold him there. 

As if he was going to run after she just power slammed backwards into her bed. He blinked up at her, eyes wide, mouth open in a cry and a grimace. Her legs were stretched out on either side of him, her bare legs he noted with a flush, feet hooked into his hips. She was wearing scrunched up black shorts and a black shirt that was pretty loose on her and engulfed her small frame, making her look much smaller and vulnerable. It was a look he didn’t like because it made him want to hide her in his body and protect her.

There was some faded writing on the shirt he couldn’t read but it was her hair that enraptured him. In all the time they had known each other, found out identities, been living down the hall from each other, he had never seen her hair in anything but her pig tails or loose at her shoulders. The messy bun piled on top of her head caused a warmth to build in his gut at the look. But in all honesty, as it always was, it was those large, expressive bluebell eyes that did him in. They were filled with pride at just slinging her partner onto her bed and between her legs – something else he needed to mention and damn he had a lot to talk to her about. 

Her little button nose was scrunched in joy, lips in a half-grin, slightly parted as she panted a little from the exertion. Water droplets still clung to her forehead and some on her neck, dripping to fall beneath her shirt. Her hair was shining a blue-black, damp from the shower, and her cheeks still held a pink flush from the heat of the water. 

Cat stared up at the love of his life and his stomach clenched as he realized just how breathtakingly beautiful she was. And he told her so. “You’re claw-ingly beautiful, Mari.”

A tender expression melted her gaze and she leaned down over him. He tensed, body completely rigid, as she kissed the very tip of his nose. “Do you want to tell me what happened, minou?”

She leaned back against the headboard of her bed, her fingers gently sliding through his hair and when one hand started scratching behind one of his leather ears, his eyes fell closed and a purr vibrated the room between them. For a while, the only sounds were the rain and his purring and the shuffling of her hands through his hair. Slowly, he stretched his arms up, curling his claws into the black shirt bunched at her waist, kneading his claws into the fabric and purring louder, deeper. Her feet holding his hips relaxed, one foot eventually tapping a gentle rhythm to a song she liked against his spandex clad body. 

She didn’t pester him to answer her and she didn’t seem bothered he hadn’t but Cat knew the moment she asked, he was going to tell her everything. How could he not? She held him in the palm of her small, needle-pricked hands. So he did.

“I had a catfight with my- with Gabriel.” Her fingers sliding through his hair slowed before resuming their normal pace and he didn’t dare open his eyes. He would be screwed if he did. “I’m an adult and I still have this…...Collar wrapped around my neck.”

Cat’s kneading claws stopped as he settled for just gripping her shirt, holding tight and afraid if he let go, she would disappear on him too. “He commanded me to do something, I refused. I….May have struck a bit deep with my claws, but…..” He hesitated before opening one glowing green eye to peek at her reaction. She had her eyes closed, head leaning back against the headboard, hands lazily combing through his hair and he opened both his eyes to bask in her presence. “Could we still be Ladybug and Cat Noir if I lived in London, M’Lady?”

Her eyes snapped open and when her head looked down at him, her eyes were wide with shock and the hands in his hair suddenly stumbled to a stop, gripping his hair. It didn’t hurt but he felt her trembling as if it was his own pain and his clawed hands flew to her own, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands to his mouth. He placed butterfly kisses on both of her wrists and her palms before placing her hands back at the roots of his hair. 

“Hey, Princess, it’s okay.” He gave her a smile he didn’t feel and sent her a wink. “You’re stuck with this alley cat I’m afraid.”

She visibly relaxed, a deep weary sigh leaving her lips before her hands slowly resumed their combing of his golden hair. “I can’t be Ladybug without you, Adrien.”

It was the first time she had said his name all night and his breath hitched, heart swelling inside his chest at her words. “You won’t have to. I’m not going. I refused and….”

He tried to think of the words to say and winced when one of her hands trailed a gentle touch along his jaw to the bruise dotting his face. She left her hand there, the warmth of her hand soothing the bruise. He smiled up at her but it was empty and barely reached his eyes.

Her eyes swam with her pain, all for him, and he nearly drowned in her blue gaze. Her mouth was set in a thin line, almost a frown, before she muttered, “Is he the one who gave you this?”

Cat’s eyes looked away but her gentle touch on his jaw and in his hair brought his eyes back up and he nodded. Taking a deep breath, he told her his thoughts and left out the worst ones. She didn’t need to know how lost he felt. “Mari, for the first time since I became Cat Noir, I am no longer an Agreste.” She gasped, eyes opening wide and face paling at the implications of those words and Cat tried to smirk but he knew he failed when her eyes softened. “So why does it hurt so much when it’s all I wanted?”

She gave a small cry and buried her head down into his hair, hunched over him as if she could shield him from the pain with her body. His hands reached up to her back where he gently ran his clawed hands down her back, a purr rumbling through his chest to comfort her. Her hands dug into the suit at his chest and he closed his eyes, letting the feel of her wash over him and fill his empty body with her instead. 

Her voice was shaky as it travelled through his hair to his ears. “Mon minou…..I am so sorry.” With a force that ripped his hands from her back and caused his slit eyes to shoot open, blinking up at her in confusion, Marinette trembled above him like a vengeful warrior. Her eyes were narrowed down at him, glassy, and her lips stretched into a small scowl. She was shaking from her fury and Cat’s purr intensified to try and calm her. “I am going to speak to him tomorrow. He doesn’t want to be a part of your life, fine. But hitting you is-is-just not acceptable!”

Cat was weightless with the affection strumming through his body for the small heroine with the fire burning in her eyes to defend him. He knew his expression melted into a dopey lovesick smile and bright eyes when her face reddened to match Ladybug’s suit and she bit her lip. He grinned and mumbled, “Claws In.”

A bright green, black, and yellow light enveloped his body. Slowly, Cat Noir faded and Adrien not Agreste was lying in his place, dopey heartfelt smile still in place. This doubled Marinette’s embarrassment and with a strangled sort of sheepish sound, she hid her face in her hands, shaking her head as she squeaked out, “Why did I invite this stray into my bedroom again?”

He laughed. He laughed so hard tears built in the corners of his eyes and an arm draped over his stomach before he, grinning, told her, “If I remember correctly, Princess, something about my stick –“

Marinette screamed and grabbed one of her Ladybug themed pillows to smack him with it. He laughed, holding up an arm to defend against her barrage and even though her face was beet red and her embarrassment prevented her from speaking to him, he couldn’t have felt happier. As he avoided the pillow assault, his eyes met Plagg’s, the little kwami shaking his head at them before he gave Adrien a gentle nod and darted to Marinette’s bedroom door where he could just make out the floating form of Tikki. 

He was lying in a pink room, on a Ladybug themed bed with his head in his best friend’s lap – maybe, one day, more than that. He was still soaked from the rain and she was currently now using both pillows and giggling, a confident smile plastered over her face, messy hair sticking out from her bun. There, with his heart laid bare, bruised jaw, tattered past and broken pride, Adrien was finally free of the collar that had choked him.

For the first time in his life, Adrien was home.


End file.
